Japan warned there could be a small radiation leak from a nuclear reactor whose cooling system was knocked by Friday's massive earthquake, but thousands of residents in the area had been moved out of harm's way .

Underscoring grave concerns about the Fukushima plant some 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. air force had delivered coolant to avert a rise in the temperature of the facility's nuclear rods.

Pressure building in the plant was set to be released soon, a move that could result in a radiation leak , officials said. Some 3,000 people who live within a 3 km radius of the plant had been evacuated, Kyodo news agency said.

Quote: Kamps is a specialist in nuclear waste at Beyond Nuclear. Last year he was in Japan assessing the state of nuclear facilities there. He said today: â€œThe electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps wonâ€™t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.

â€œIn addition to the reactor cores, the storage pool for highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel is also at risk. The pool cooling water must be continuously circulated. Without circulation, the still thermally hot irradiated nuclear fuel in the storage pools will begin to boil off the cooling water. Within a day or two, the poolâ€™s water could completely boil away. Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction. Since the storage pools are not located within containment, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur. Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances. Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.â€

Goes without saying, but if history has any precedent, don't trust Jap Gov info on nuclear sites.

Quote:Over the decades, the Japanese public has been reassured by the Tokyo Electric Power Company that its nuclear reactors are prepared for any eventuality. Yet the mystery in Fukushima is not the first unreported problem with nuclear power, only the most recent. Back in 1996, amid a reactor accident in Ibaraki province, the government never admitted that radioactive fallout had drifted over the northeastern suburbs of Tokyo. Reporters obtained confirmation from monitoring stations, but the press was under a blanket order not to run any alarming news, facts be damned. For a nation that has lived under the atomic cloud of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, total denial becomes possible because the finger on the button is our own.

Note: This post has several updates. Scroll to the bottom for the latest.
Original post: Ominous flash from Kyodo Wire:
The operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant reported an abnormality Friday following a powerful earthquake which hit a wide area in northeastern Japan including Fukushima Prefecture, the industry ministry said.
The system to cool reactor cores in case of emergency stopped at the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors of the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., it said.
There are reports that the Japanese PM will declare a nuclear emergency.
Update: There's no evidence of any radioactive leakage, but officials have confirmed that the cooling process for the nuclear plant has not yet gone according to plan.
Update 2: Japan has declared a nuclear emergency.
Update 3: 2000 residents near the Fukushima Nuclear Plant have been urged to evacuate.
Update 4: According to reports, Japanese jets have been ordered to fly over the Fukushima Nuclear plant
Update 5: According to Reuters, a Dam has broken in the same region as the at-risk nuclear power plant.
Update 6: The owner of the plant, TEPCO, says the reactor pressure is rising, and there are risks of a radiation leak, according to Reuters.
Update 7: Now the trade minister says a leak is possible.
Update 8: Word is, Japanese authorities will release a small amount of radioactive vapor into the air to ease pressure.
Update 9: Japan just expanded the evacuation range from 3 KM to 9 KM, says Reuters.

Update 4:43 PM: Now according to Kyodo, radiation is measured at 1000x normal.
Update 5:05: The entire world is now watching the Fukushima plant. Here's a llink to a satellite image of the plant, just to get some more perspective on where this is.

The amount of radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level Saturday in the control room of the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

The discovery suggests radioactive steam could spread around the facility operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Radiation could already have leaked at nuke plant
TOKYO, March 12, Kyodo

Radioactive substances could already have leaked at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit northern Japan, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday.

The amount of radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level in the control room of the No. 1 reactor of the plant, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency also said. The discovery suggests radioactive steam could spread around the facility.

The agency also said radiation has been more than eight times the normal level at a monitoring post near the main gate of the plant.

The authorities expanded the evacuation area for residents in the vicinity of the plant from a 3-kilometer radius to 10 km on the orders of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who plans to visit the facility later Saturday.

Pressure inside a reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Co's quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant may have risen to 2.1 times its designed capacity.

At this point realistically it's a several megaton nuke waiting to go off. I give a few more minutes to an hour or two, then we can pretty much kiss Japan goodbye at that point. Chernobyl all over again only far worse. This is going to be a planetary nightmare.

Quote:The company said it was preparing back-up generators to pump water and cool the reactor.

How can they do this, the backup generators only have 8 hours use, and there is no electricity supply to the area effected.

That surely is not enough time. Will they be able to bring more power to the generators, this is the critical question at this time.

If they can't cool it, then as I posted previously, expect a nuclear disaster.

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Food for thought - alternet
If the Same Magnitude Quake Had Hit California, We Could Have Been Nuked
An 8.9 Richter-scale earthquake could have ripped apart at least four coastal reactors and sent a lethal cloud of radiation across the entire United States.